Jaipur, 17 May 2013: Raghu Rai’s photo exhibition titled ‘Outside the Margins’ at Rajasthan Lalit Kala Academy opened today with much fanfare in the presence of the Padmashree photographer. Smt Bina Kak, Honorable of Tourism, Art and Culture, Forest and Woman and Child Development inaugurated the exhibition ‘Outside the Margins’ in the presence of eminent personalities including Chairperson Bhim Shankar Sharma, Justice RS Chauhan, media and public.

The exhibition is a part of Save the Children’s global campaign to reduce child deaths in India and around the world. According to latest figures, 16.5 lakhs children die every year in India due to easily preventable illnesses such as diarrhea and pneumonia – and this means we lose one child every 19 seconds. With half of India’s children malnourished, malnutrition is the single biggest underlying cause contributing to one third of these deaths.

Through the exhibition ‘Outside the Margins’ Save the Children seeks to make this ‘invisible’ reality ‘visible’. Save the Children’s association with the ace photographer began three years ago in partnership with Magnum photos - a multi-country project which included India. What began as an initial probe in the slums to capture the deplorable condition of health among women and children has now grown into a full-fledged Photo Book on the issue.

“I have no illusions about changing the world through these pictures, but by sharing them with sensitivity and responsibility, I hope they will touch people to some extent, and create an environment where people are more aware of, and sensitive to, the glaring disparities and contradictions that mark everyday life in India, especially the children who are the future of the nation,” says Raghu Rai.

“It is indeed a shame that we continue to lose lakhs of children in India - a country of abundance and an emerging superpower. If that was not all, one woman dies every 10 minutes during child birth without assistance from skilled birth attendant. These are not merely statistics but a reflection on us, as a nation and society, on how we treat our women and children. It is the poor and marginalized who suffer the most. For them, it is a lottery of life than the right to life and survival.,” says Pragya Vats, National Campaign Manager, Save the Children.

The book has a candid foreword by socio-political activist, Aruna Roy. She writes, “Raghu’s photographs of children on the fringes of an affluent society provoke a whole gamut of emotions. These photographs focus on the reality of millions of children, placing them squarely in the middle of the lens; mocking the claims of a shining tinsel India. Young children look you in the eye, with a confidence which defies their emaciated bodies and difficult conditions. Children are beautiful. Poverty does not deprive children of their spirit, creativity and fun. These pictures show dire conditions, but in the middle of these circumstances, they capture the dignity of their persona.”

Looking at the urgent needs of the community, especially children, Save the Children’s efforts aim at giving every child a healthy start in life, ensuring every child has the right to life, education and protection, care and nurturing that every child deserves. And to make a difference in the life of a child we must deliver change in the community and their social milieu.

“We do hope that our efforts translate into political commitments for children in our country, and together we will create a nation where every child counts,” adds Pragya.

About Save the Children campaign – No Child born to die

Save the Children is running a global five year campaign across 50 countries aimed at reducing child deaths in India and around the world. The campaign is linked to UN Millennium Goal 4 that calls for cutting child mortality by 2/3 by 2015. India along with 188 nations signed up to 8 Millennium Development Goals in the year 2000. India has the highest number of children dying anywhere in the world. We lose 16.5 lakh children every year due to easily preventable illnesses such as diarrhoea and pneumonia. Malnutrition is the single biggest killer of children under the age of five. One out of three children in India suffers from malnutrition.

About Save the Children

Save the Children is the leading, independent child rights organisation working across 120 countries across the world. In India we work in 12 states on programmes that are aimed at reducing infant and child mortality, improving children’s nutritional status, making quality education accessible and protecting them from exploitation and abuse. Our programmes are being run closely with governments, the United Nations system and non-government organizations.